Bill: Ban fracking pollutants for treatment or dumping in state

Freshman senator asks prohibition of dumping, treatment

Published 10:37 pm, Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Assemblyman John McDonald III, left, and Senator Neil Breslin, center, listen as Senator Cecilia Tkaczyk, right, addresses those gathered for a press conference at the Legislative Office Building on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 in Albany, NY. Attendees at the press conference called on the Governor and the leaders of the five legislative conferences to increase education aid to public schools. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

State Sen. Cecilia Tkaczyk was joined Wednesday by opponents of the natural gas drilling technique known as high-volume hydraulic fracturing to announce she'll introduce a bill to ban "the treatment, discharge, disposal, transportation or storage" of hydrofracking waste products in New York state."

The legislation, which is so new it currently lacks an Assembly sponsor, is meant to wall off the Empire State from what fracking opponents describe as a steady stream coming over the border from Pennsylvania, where the technique has been used for several years in the gas-bearing Marcellus Shale region.

"It simply makes no sense that we would accept hazardous wastes from other states while we are working to determine the environmental impact fracking would have on New York," the Duanesburg Democrat said at a Wednesday news conference.

Roger Downs of the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter said fracking fluid had been shipped to treatment facilities or industrial use in Buffalo, Chautauqua County and other communities, while drill cuttings have ended up in landfills in a half-dozen localities.

"New York should not be Pennsylvania's dumping ground," Downs said.

Katherine Nadeau, water and natural resources director of Environmental Advocates, said the new bill should be addressed in parallel to a broader moratorium on fracking in the state — a measure that has been passed by the Assembly but remains blocked in the state Senate, where most Republicans support the implementation of the technique or are at least willing to place the decision in the hands of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

James Smith, a spokesman for the Independent Oil & Gas Association, said in an email that "the assumption that the lawful transportation and disposal of waste water is somehow a secret or an unregulated activity is absurd. Presenting this as some sort of crisis is irresponsible."